A Successful Mission

The next day, Lynn woke in a partitioned room of the laboratory. The first thing he did was find Gregor, who was buried in blueprints and materials.

Lynn had spent several days refining the Death Knight, and the old man was already extremely dissatisfied. He needed to be properly placated.

"Mentor, regarding the stability issue of 'Negative-Energy Backflow into the Soul Core,' I pondered it all night. I thought perhaps we could add a 'Phase-Shift Buffer Rune Array' to the energy circuit, like this..."

Lynn picked up a discarded bone shard and smoothly engraved an intricate composite rune structure upon it.

Gregor was deeply gratified to hear that Lynn had put so much thought into solving his problem.

At first, he thought Lynn's idea was overly naive. But as he listened, his clouded eyes gradually lit up.

He snatched the bone shard away, his fingers rapidly tracing over it. "Phase shift... buffer... Brilliant!"

"Though it'll increase the complexity of the construction, it can indeed greatly reduce the risk of the soul core being overloaded by instantaneous pressure! Kid, how is that brain of yours made?!"

Lynn chuckled. After scanning all the general knowledge on the library's first floor, his Analysis function had become even more powerful.

The solutions it offered were no longer overly "idealistic." With the panel's deep analysis, he could always find tricky yet feasible breakthroughs in problems that seemed unsolvable.

Gregor knew nothing of that.

All he saw was that this young apprentice could always find imaginative yet practical breakthroughs in problems that had troubled him for a long time.

It made him increasingly glad about that seemingly casual decision he had made back then.

Lynn's performance had swiftly elevated his standing in Gregor's eyes from "a daydreamer with a bit of cleverness" to "an assistant with immense research value."

In his excellent mood, Gregor finally stopped limiting Lynn to merely the scraps of the [Death Metamorphosis Ritual].

With a broad wave of his hand, he generously allowed Lynn access to some of the other sealed research notes and results in his laboratory, claiming it was "to broaden his horizons and inspire more ideas."

Lynn finally had the chance to examine the "restricted" knowledge stored in the laboratory.

He activated his scanning function to its fullest, recording one piece of advanced knowledge after another into his own library.

[Research on Energy Circuit Overload and Stability]

[Negative-Energy Particle Inert-State Activation Technique]

[Hypothesis on the Reverse Conversion of Multi-Attribute Energy Particles]

[External Soul-Energy Circulation System Design]

These were, after all, the research results of a Formal Wizard who had immersed himself in the field for over a century. They were somewhat too "advanced" for Lynn.

He was only a small-time Wizard Apprentice and had yet to delve into matters this profound.

However, Lynn could choose useful branches from this knowledge to enrich his foundation and improve his strength.

He could also use this knowledge to select suitable Apprentice-Level Sorcery, and even future "circle"-level wizardry, for development, strengthening his own arsenal.

After recording for roughly half an hour, Lynn saw that the pace was simply too slow and decided to set it aside for now.

He lived in the laboratory anyway. He could scan while meditating at night, accomplishing both without interfering with either.

It would be better to do something meaningful during the day.

There was a major class today on advancing from First-Class Apprentice to Second-Class Apprentice, but Lynn had already heard Gregor explain the key points of advancement.

As long as his mental power reached twenty points and he successfully constructed an Apprentice-Level Sorcery, he would officially become a Second-Class Apprentice.

His innate mental power was considerably higher than that of other apprentices. This allowed him to cultivate faster than them; the higher one's innate mental power, the greater one's meditation efficiency.

Other apprentices' mental power grew slowly, so they needed potions or special methods to increase it. (Such as fusing with or Devouring soul essences, or enduring a Vengeful Spirit's Psychic Scream to temper their mental power.)

Yet whether they used potions or other methods, they would inflict "mental contamination" upon Wizards.

They might charge forward with unstoppable momentum in the early stages thanks to the rapid growth of their mental power, but when it came time to advance to Formal Wizard, they would be left dumbfounded.

Lynn, however, could pass through the apprentice stage without relying on potions.

His high innate mental power gave him superior memory and stamina, a greater margin for error when engraving runes and performing similar operations, and allowed him to master all kinds of knowledge more quickly.

He also possessed higher resistance against mental attacks, curses, and similar spells, while making it difficult for wizardry divination to locate him.

These advantages would make his path as a Wizard smoother and easier, while also benefiting secondary professions such as potion-making, alchemy, and runes.

For now, though, Lynn intended to focus on accumulating knowledge and cultivating. He would raise his rank first.

As for those other "secondary professions," he could put them aside for the moment. There would be plenty of time for them later.

After leaving the laboratory, Lynn headed straight for the Task Hall, preparing to continue gathering resources.

Whether it was accelerating his cultivation, conducting research and experiments, or advancing to Formal Wizard in the future, none of it could be done without resource support.

Upon arriving at the Task Hall, Lynn began browsing missions with practiced ease.

He specifically filtered for "knowledge consultation" missions posted by First-Class and Second-Class Apprentices, with rewards between five and fifteen Contribution Points.

The missions in this range all involved Zero-Level Cantrips, which Lynn was confident he could handle.

The risk of failing missions posted by Third-Class Apprentices was too great, so he would not take them for the time being.

As usual, he started with the easy ones and accepted a mission from a First-Class female apprentice who was troubled by the stability of [Faint Illusion].

The beautiful Wraith attendant contacted the mission poster and said that she would arrive shortly.

A moment later, the two met in the Task Hall.

The female apprentice was slightly startled when she saw Lynn, apparently not expecting the person who accepted the mission to also be a First-Class Apprentice.

"You really are young..."

She showed no hint of disdain. Instead, she addressed him respectfully and appeared exceedingly polite.

She then went with Lynn to a corner of the Task Hall and took out the Witchcraft Model she had engraved in advance.

Lynn had this sorcery in his records, so there was no need to freeload. Moreover, after Analysis and Optimization, it was considerably stronger than the basic version.

After examining the female apprentice's crude Witchcraft Model, Lynn found many problems. If they were all resolved, the sorcery could be improved across the board.

But he had only been paid to improve its stability. The other problems were separate paid services, so naturally, he would not meddle.

"Your issue is that your mental power output isn't smooth enough. When constructing the outline of the image, try to imagine your mental power as a gentle stream rather than letting it surge out all at once."

Lynn briefly sketched a diagram of mental power flow onto a bone plate.

The female apprentice immediately understood after seeing it. Following his method, she tried again, and the illusion she formed was indeed much more stable.

She looked at the illusion beside her in delight and sincerely praised him.

"Thank you so much. I've never met a First-Class Apprentice as knowledgeable as you. Your guidance was more useful than half a month of fumbling around on my own!"

Lynn merely nodded slightly. There was no need for flattering words; she just needed to honestly pay the Contribution Points.

This female apprentice was fairly trustworthy. She directly went to the mission counter to settle the task.

Soon, eight Contribution Points had been credited to his account, and his Nameplate recorded another completed mission.

This was far better than work like cleaning sewers.

He could slog away for half a day and earn only one Contribution Point. At that rate, he would have to save until the year of the monkey to gather enough advancement resources.